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Envy
Television favourite Karen King loves three things: her job as presenter on a late night talk show, her gorgeous husband Jason, and her Spanx® pants, guaranteed to give the plumpest woman a waistline. She's happy, but fate is about to turn her ordered world upside down. Surprise number one is finding Jason in bed with a young blonde. Karen's barely over the shock when she's hotly tipped to take over primetime's highest-rating chat show. She wants the job - but so do some of the biggest divas in showbiz, not least the icy Julia Hill who will do absolutely anything to sabotage Karen. As the biggest catfight in town kicks off can Karen sort out her life and win television's greatest prize? With its glamorous characters and captivating heroine, Envy is a sexy, funny, unforgettable read.
420 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
3 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Coleen Nolan
11 books17 followersSince joining Loose Women in 2000, Coleen has caused controversy with her outspoken opinions and often headline-grabbing stories. Her loose lips and saucy innuendos regularly get her in trouble too, but she can’t help it, she's a big flirt. Actually her flirty antics have often left gorgeous male guests in shock – do you remember a rather upfront chat with Enrique Iglesias? She's a massive fan of Simon Cowell and have even had erotic dreams about him! She was thrilled when the L.W panel presented her with a surprise birthday card from him on the show but she's still waiting for the real thing! As much as she loves her job, she's a real home-body and loves being a wife and mother. She tied the knot with musician Ray Fensome in November 2007 after he proposed to her on her 40th birthday. They have one daughter together, Ciara, who was born in June 2001. Previously married to actor Shane Ritchie for 10 years they have two sons, Shane Jnr and Jake. She has spoken openly on Loose Women about her struggle with the break-up. Actually her appearance on Trisha's Celebrity Heartbreak led to a guest appearance on Loose Women and an offer to become a regular panellist!
As you may know she is a member of The Nolan Sisters, whose success chalked up two Royal Performances, record sales in Britain and more than nine million records sold in Japan - that's more than The Beatles!. She joined the band in 1980 aged just 15. Their biggest hit, I'm In the Mood For Dancing has become a cult classic. She's also presented on This Morning and appeared as a panellist on The Wright Stuff. Coleen also had a weekly column in Woman magazine and a parenting column in the Daily Mirror. As well as a regular panellist on Loose Women Coleen also took part in ITV’s Dancing On Ice in 2009 reaching the semi final.. Although she was dreading it at first, she really enjoyed it, even if she was being held together by sellotape by the end!. Her autobiography 'Upfront and Personal' was a top seller followed by her 1st novel 'Envy', which also charted highly. Her 3rd fitness Dvd 'Lets get Physical' was released in 2010 following on from The Nolans 2009 sellout reunion tour. In 2010 Coleen was asked to return to ITV's flagship morning show 'This Morning', almost a decade after they discarded her. Coleen has worked hard to prove her detractor's wrong and is currently one of the shining jewels in ITV's crown.
As you may know she is a member of The Nolan Sisters, whose success chalked up two Royal Performances, record sales in Britain and more than nine million records sold in Japan - that's more than The Beatles!. She joined the band in 1980 aged just 15. Their biggest hit, I'm In the Mood For Dancing has become a cult classic. She's also presented on This Morning and appeared as a panellist on The Wright Stuff. Coleen also had a weekly column in Woman magazine and a parenting column in the Daily Mirror. As well as a regular panellist on Loose Women Coleen also took part in ITV’s Dancing On Ice in 2009 reaching the semi final.. Although she was dreading it at first, she really enjoyed it, even if she was being held together by sellotape by the end!. Her autobiography 'Upfront and Personal' was a top seller followed by her 1st novel 'Envy', which also charted highly. Her 3rd fitness Dvd 'Lets get Physical' was released in 2010 following on from The Nolans 2009 sellout reunion tour. In 2010 Coleen was asked to return to ITV's flagship morning show 'This Morning', almost a decade after they discarded her. Coleen has worked hard to prove her detractor's wrong and is currently one of the shining jewels in ITV's crown.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 2, 2010
TV favourite Karen King has been having a difficult time of late. She caught her husband of twenty years, Jason, cheating on her, before he left to shack with the girl in question, and although her presenter job on Girl Talk is going well and she believes that her four co-presenters will always be there for her, she’s about to be in for a huge shock.
When it’s announced that Helen England, anchor of Channel 6′s Good Morning Britain, is to leave, the Girl Talk girls are suddenly pitted against each other in a bid to all try and land the job. But in the cut-throat, dog-eat-dog, world of TV presenting, can Karen rise above it all to come out on top, or will one of her co-presenters beat her to it?
Whenever I hear a celebrity is writing a book, I’m immediately skeptical because, let’s face it, more often than not, the only reason they’ve gotten themselves a book deal is because of who they are rather than their writing abilities. To then make matters worse, the celebrities then go and get a ghost-writer to pen their book, which I find insulting to all authors out there with genuine talent who don’t, and may never, have the chance to have their book published. So when I saw Coleen Nolan was trying her hand at fiction, I was dubious as ever. However I received a copy for review and the sparkly cover really caught my eye so I decided to try my luck and see if Coleen could change the trend of bad celebrity books.
When I first read the synopsis for Envy, I assumed it would be like reading Coleen Nolan’s auto-biography (not that I have) and that Karen would be a fictional Coleen. My second assumption was that the book would focus solely on Karen because that would have been the easiest way to write a book. I was wrong on both counts. Yes, Karen does have some similarities to Coleen; she’s a TV presenter and stars in a show similar to Loose Women and yes, she was in a band many years ago, but she didn’t base Karen on herself entirely, like I know a few authors have done. And secondly, the book doesn’t focus solely on Karen and it actually encapsulates the lives of many different characters which makes for a well-rounded, thoroughly enjoyable read.
As well as focusing on Karen King and her failed marriage with Jason and proposed new romance with Dave, the majority of the book centers on all of Karen’s co-presenters and it definitely feels like one big ensemble cast. Girl Talk, the show on which Karen co-presents on Channel 6, is very much in the vein of Loose Women, albeit in a later time slot, and as well as herself, there’s also Julia, Lesley, Faye and Cheryl. So when it’s announced that Helen England, the anchor of the morning show Good Morning Britain (a parody, I assume of This Morning), it’s obvious to think the job of anchor could go to one of the five Girl Talk ladies. This obviously causes ructions because each of the ladies believe that they should be the one to land the job and it all descends into cat-fights, allegations, counter-allegations and all kinds of secrets coming out but the question is whether any of the Girl Talk ladies will come out of it alive.
As well as having five female leading characters in Karen, Julia, Lesley, Faye and Cheryl, we also have plenty of other characters to flesh out the book ever more. There’s Jason, Karen’s husband, Hannah, Jason’s girlfriend (and the girl he cheated on Karen with), Dave, Karen’s potential boyfriend, and then there’s James Almond, the new controller at Channel 6, Helen England, the anchor of Good Morning Britain, and then there’s still more on top of that. How Coleen managed to juggle so many characters is beyond me and after the initial bewilderment of ‘Who is who’, I eventually managed to piece everybody together. With such an ensemble cast, you do have to concentrate just to keep track of everything going on but I personally didn’t believe there were too many characters at all. Karen is probably our ‘main’ main character and was a good one if a little naive at times. Her co-presenters aren’t particularly likeable but that only adds to the book and makes it more appealing. Julia, in particular, was vicious and was a great baddie. It would take a long while to discuss each and every character but all I will say is that they’re all different and they’re all well-thought out and well presented, good and bad.
From what I have gleamed from a quick Google search, Coleen appears to have written this all by herself without the help of a ghost-writer which is what most celebrities appear to do. And although this may be a surprise, Envy is well written. It’s told in third-person and switches around the characters very frequently and the book never seems to drag at all; how could it drag with so much going on? My first criticism of the book is the constant name-dropping and everyone from the Loose Women to Kate Thornton are name-dropped and the Loose Women references did make me cringe, because as everyone knows, Coleen Nolan is a member of the Loose Women panel. My second criticism is the fact there’s a pretty serious bomb dropped about one of the characters mid-way through the book and it kind of appeared from nowhere (which wasn’t the problem) and I would have liked to have seen it explored a bit more and I hope that, should there be a sequel, it will be picked up again as it was an interesting sub-plot.
Overall, I hugely enjoyed Envy. I didn’t expect to, and that makes my liking of the novel all the better; there’s nothing better than enjoying a book you had no hopes for at all. Coleen is apparently working on a sequel and I can’t wait for it’s release as there was lots left to explore throughout the book and there were a few revelations I would love to have been explored more, which will hopefully happen in book two. There seems to be a glut of showbiz novels being released at the moment, and Envy is definitely one of the better ones on the market. I hugely recommend it.
When it’s announced that Helen England, anchor of Channel 6′s Good Morning Britain, is to leave, the Girl Talk girls are suddenly pitted against each other in a bid to all try and land the job. But in the cut-throat, dog-eat-dog, world of TV presenting, can Karen rise above it all to come out on top, or will one of her co-presenters beat her to it?
Whenever I hear a celebrity is writing a book, I’m immediately skeptical because, let’s face it, more often than not, the only reason they’ve gotten themselves a book deal is because of who they are rather than their writing abilities. To then make matters worse, the celebrities then go and get a ghost-writer to pen their book, which I find insulting to all authors out there with genuine talent who don’t, and may never, have the chance to have their book published. So when I saw Coleen Nolan was trying her hand at fiction, I was dubious as ever. However I received a copy for review and the sparkly cover really caught my eye so I decided to try my luck and see if Coleen could change the trend of bad celebrity books.
When I first read the synopsis for Envy, I assumed it would be like reading Coleen Nolan’s auto-biography (not that I have) and that Karen would be a fictional Coleen. My second assumption was that the book would focus solely on Karen because that would have been the easiest way to write a book. I was wrong on both counts. Yes, Karen does have some similarities to Coleen; she’s a TV presenter and stars in a show similar to Loose Women and yes, she was in a band many years ago, but she didn’t base Karen on herself entirely, like I know a few authors have done. And secondly, the book doesn’t focus solely on Karen and it actually encapsulates the lives of many different characters which makes for a well-rounded, thoroughly enjoyable read.
As well as focusing on Karen King and her failed marriage with Jason and proposed new romance with Dave, the majority of the book centers on all of Karen’s co-presenters and it definitely feels like one big ensemble cast. Girl Talk, the show on which Karen co-presents on Channel 6, is very much in the vein of Loose Women, albeit in a later time slot, and as well as herself, there’s also Julia, Lesley, Faye and Cheryl. So when it’s announced that Helen England, the anchor of the morning show Good Morning Britain (a parody, I assume of This Morning), it’s obvious to think the job of anchor could go to one of the five Girl Talk ladies. This obviously causes ructions because each of the ladies believe that they should be the one to land the job and it all descends into cat-fights, allegations, counter-allegations and all kinds of secrets coming out but the question is whether any of the Girl Talk ladies will come out of it alive.
As well as having five female leading characters in Karen, Julia, Lesley, Faye and Cheryl, we also have plenty of other characters to flesh out the book ever more. There’s Jason, Karen’s husband, Hannah, Jason’s girlfriend (and the girl he cheated on Karen with), Dave, Karen’s potential boyfriend, and then there’s James Almond, the new controller at Channel 6, Helen England, the anchor of Good Morning Britain, and then there’s still more on top of that. How Coleen managed to juggle so many characters is beyond me and after the initial bewilderment of ‘Who is who’, I eventually managed to piece everybody together. With such an ensemble cast, you do have to concentrate just to keep track of everything going on but I personally didn’t believe there were too many characters at all. Karen is probably our ‘main’ main character and was a good one if a little naive at times. Her co-presenters aren’t particularly likeable but that only adds to the book and makes it more appealing. Julia, in particular, was vicious and was a great baddie. It would take a long while to discuss each and every character but all I will say is that they’re all different and they’re all well-thought out and well presented, good and bad.
From what I have gleamed from a quick Google search, Coleen appears to have written this all by herself without the help of a ghost-writer which is what most celebrities appear to do. And although this may be a surprise, Envy is well written. It’s told in third-person and switches around the characters very frequently and the book never seems to drag at all; how could it drag with so much going on? My first criticism of the book is the constant name-dropping and everyone from the Loose Women to Kate Thornton are name-dropped and the Loose Women references did make me cringe, because as everyone knows, Coleen Nolan is a member of the Loose Women panel. My second criticism is the fact there’s a pretty serious bomb dropped about one of the characters mid-way through the book and it kind of appeared from nowhere (which wasn’t the problem) and I would have liked to have seen it explored a bit more and I hope that, should there be a sequel, it will be picked up again as it was an interesting sub-plot.
Overall, I hugely enjoyed Envy. I didn’t expect to, and that makes my liking of the novel all the better; there’s nothing better than enjoying a book you had no hopes for at all. Coleen is apparently working on a sequel and I can’t wait for it’s release as there was lots left to explore throughout the book and there were a few revelations I would love to have been explored more, which will hopefully happen in book two. There seems to be a glut of showbiz novels being released at the moment, and Envy is definitely one of the better ones on the market. I hugely recommend it.
August 13, 2023
Sadly this book is very dated in its views, which wouldn't grate souch except that they set up the "villain" who then turns out to be a person who has had a sex change. Between that and the fact that there were a lot of unresolved storylines, I was left feeling very unsatisfied at the end of the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 14, 2019
I surprise how good it was a good page turner with some great twist
July 16, 2020
I enjoyed it as it makes reference to programmes and celebrities who I knew, so felt more involved.
June 20, 2024
This book was MESSY. I was not prepared for the amount of drama this story contains.
It's no secret that the world of celebrities and the race to become the most admired is a cutthroat industry. These characters experience ambition, betrayal, and multiple career opportunities with a hint of sabotage and, of course, envy. There are secrets, there are breakdowns, there are raging conflicts, multiple plot twists, and a little bit of romance.
If you are looking for a chick-lit with so much drama that you feel like you're watching a reality TV show, this one might be for you.
It's no secret that the world of celebrities and the race to become the most admired is a cutthroat industry. These characters experience ambition, betrayal, and multiple career opportunities with a hint of sabotage and, of course, envy. There are secrets, there are breakdowns, there are raging conflicts, multiple plot twists, and a little bit of romance.
If you are looking for a chick-lit with so much drama that you feel like you're watching a reality TV show, this one might be for you.
August 27, 2010
I'm not a big fan of celebrity novels so I wasn't expecting too much from this but was pleasantly surprised. I believe she wrote it herself without a ghostwriter and if this is true, then it is surprisingly good for a debut novel. I can't see it winning any awards but its an easy read with some well drawn characters and some of the best bitchiest and back-stabbing behaviour I've seen in a book together with enough twists and turns to keep you interested. Lots of name dropping and, as expected, the Loose Women programme gets a mention several times, as do other TV stars. As the storyline is based around a late night's women's chat show, I couldn't help wondering whether any of the characters were based on anyone she knew!
July 19, 2010
I enjoyed this book- makes you wonder what goes on behind the scenes on tv shows that you see daily.
December 7, 2010
Hmmmm what can I say this was like reading her autobiography! I just couldn't get into it took me days to finish it!
February 6, 2011
Really enjoyed the gossipy plot and the way it was written, whilst fictional, mentioning lots of famous names. A good plot and very believable. Looking forward to reading her 2nd book.
March 29, 2011
A light, yet very bitchy, read which has a very unexpected twist towards the end.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews